The hours have passed and I sit alone and still my guards
have not followed their normal routines. From below I am greeted with nothing
but silence. The child has uttered not a sound since after the dawn. Perhaps
the warmth I have surrounded her with has lulled her to sleep, though a
temporary respite it will be. If I reach out to her I fear I will wake her.
Surely sleep is what she needs now. I fear my captors will soon have need of
her, for what purpose I can only guess. She is not but half a decade old.
I close my eyes at the sound of metal; the distinct tone of
keys as they sing, their bodies slamming against each other. I hear them slide
around my jailor’s ring as he selects the proper one. This morning they are not
for me but my new companion below. I hear the guard’s voice break the silence.
“Up with ya. The King wants ya.”
I hear her voice as it meanders up the stone. She is afraid.
Though faint I hear her sobs. They are disheartening. Long has it been since I
have felt anguish for another. For all these years my emotions have been only
anger, rage and contempt for my captors and pity for my own foolishness. I have
suppressed my own emotions, held them deep within to keep my rage within its
own prison. I fear the tears that fall below me are but a wellspring to my own
sorrow.
The footsteps now retreat, more than what came up the steps
to the tower. Her steps are small, their sound distinct from the guards. Even
with my acute sense I lose her footfalls among the men. What is to become of
her I wonder? What value could she bring to the King? Surely she has no
military knowledge to use against Jeshion Hall.
I tire, the night’s passage long as I realize I have not
slept in days, my usual routine disrupted by my new companion’s arrival. The
coolness of the chamber draws on me. I lean forward within my cramped prison
letting my wings extend as far as they may. It is never easy. Each time I am
released to do their bidding my body recoils at the stiffness. I am but a caged
animal, my eyes falling slowly as my wings wrap around my form. Slumber calls.
The sound of keys again calls to me. I snort unconsciously
as I recoil from my nap. The light from above, my single outlook to the world
still shows a gray sky. Is this the same day or another that has come and gone?
Long ago I stopped keeping count. I deemed it pointless.
I hear the lock tumblers fall within their constraints. The
key lets the latch fall and the lock gives way. The light from behind the casts
them in silhouette as the door swings inward to my chamber. They are one less
than normally enters my room. It is not my meal time, though still I do not
know what time it is. Surely they will ...
“His Majesty summons you.” I inhale deeply causing my guards
to step back. “Come.”
Still, they do not trust me after all these years. I have
made it a point to show what little resolve I still possess towards his
servants. Whether the master of Whitehall knows the truth, only he knows. Above
I hear the grinding of the wooden beams retreating as they are drug apart, the
chains bolted to them taught as they wrap around an unseen wheel. As I look up
the thick timbers which are the only exit to my prison cell open to the gray
skies. In the beginning of my ordeal I was forced to watch as the mechanism was
constructed. With his hold over my prize I was powerless to do otherwise.
I crane my neck upward as I spread my wings using them to
help claw my way to the opening. My chamber is too narrow for me to spread my
wings and soar to the clouds as dragons were meant to do. Each step upward
tears at my skin leaving one more reminder of my imprisonment. At last I reach
the summit of my tower and feel the first fresh breath of earthly wind against
my face. It is a heavenly embrace.
I wrap my claws about the stone of the turret righting
myself for the first time in weeks. With each day below I lose a small piece of
myself, a small piece of what it means to be a dragon. But when the heavens
open up to me I can pretend to be free. I spread my heavy wings letting them
stretch from horizon to horizon. My muscles rebel as I push against the western
winds that ride up the castle walls. One mighty throw of my weight against the
winds lifts me toward the sky. With each stroke I am one step away from my
prison. I long to return to the heavens where once I reigned supreme.
Stay tuned for night 5...
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